COMMON QUAIL. 403 



the second volume of the Transactions of the Zoological So- 

 ciety of London, of which the following extract forms a part. 



" I have carefully examined and compared specimens 

 from China,* India, the Cape of Good Hope, and England, 

 and must pronounce them, in spite of the extraordinary 

 geographical range, to be one species, the differences be- 

 tween the specimens not being greater than are found 

 amongst individuals from the same locality. The Indian 

 bird has the same cry of picker wick, or peek-wheet-wheet, 

 which, M. Temminck says, induced M. Meyer to give it 

 the specific appellation of dactylisonans.-\- 



A matter of considerable historical interest is associated 

 with this bird, as there is the strongest ground for believ- 

 ing that it is the identical species, Tetrao Israelitarum, of 

 whose instinct it pleased the Divinity to avail himself in 

 supplying the famishing Israelites with food in the Wilder- 

 ness. Authors have differed with respect to the real nature 

 of this food ; Rudbeck^: asserting that it was & flying fish, 

 and Ludolph that it was a locust: but the 26th, 27th, 

 28th, and 29th verses of the 78th Psalm, determine it to 

 have been a bird : " He caused an east wind to blow in 

 the heaven : and by his power he brought in the south 

 wind. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and fea- 

 thered fowls (fowl of wing) like as the sand of the sea : 

 and he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about 

 their habitations. So they did eat, and were well-filled : 

 for he gave them their own desire." || 



BochartH and Dr. Harris** state that the Hebrew word 

 used is Selav, in Arabic Selwee, or Selvai (a Quail,) which 



* M. Temminck says our Quail is also found in Japan. 



f Pig. et Gal. torn. iii. p. 501. 



J Ichthyol. Bibl. Comment, ad Hist. ^Ethiop. p. 108. 



|| See also Exodus xvi. 13, and Numbers xi. 31 and 32. 



If De Animalibus S. Scripturse. ** Natural History of the Bible, p. 317. 



D D 2 



